A New Alternative for Obtaining Nanocrystalline Bioactive Coatings: Study of Hydroxyapatite Deposition Mechanisms by Cold Gas Spraying

The present article is intended to study the deposition mechanisms of bioactive hydroxyapatite (HA) particles by means of Cold Gas Spraying (CGS). A comparison of the deposition on two different substrates (Ti6Al4V and Al7075T6) and different particle sizes is presented. Although this is a more specific deposition technique for ductile materials, it is here shown that, in certain conditions, ceramic deposition is possible despite the inherent low ductility. The resulting internal structure and the features at the particle-substrate interface are discussed in view of Transmission Electron Microscopy examinations of a Focused Ion Beam lift-out prepared sample. Mainly, under shock compressive loading, the porous sintered powder proceeds through pore collapse, fragmentation and densification as well as grain refinement. The process is described through different plastic mechanisms in ceramics. This opens a new alternative route to produce nanocrystalline HA coatings through a cost-effective process.